He purpos'd to his wife's fole fon, (a widow
That late he married) hath referr'd herself
Unto a poor, but worthy gentleman: She's wedded;
Her husband banish'd; fhe imprison'd: all
Is outward forrow; though, I think, the king
Be touch'd at very heart.

2 Gent. None but the king?

1 Gent. He, that hath loft her, too: fo is the
queen,

That most defir'd the match: But not a courtier,
Although they wear their faces to the bent
Of the king's looks, hath a heart that is not
Glad at the thing they fcowl at.

2 Gent. And why fo?

1 Gent. He that hath mifs'd the princefs, is a thing, Too bad for bad report: and he that hath her, (I mean, that marry'd her,-alack, good man!— And therefore banish'd) is a creature fuch As, to feek through the regions of the earth. For one his like, there would be fomething failing In him that should compare. I do not think, So fair an qutward, and such stuff within, Endows a man but he.

2 Gent. You speak him far 3.

1 Gent. I do extend him, fir, within himself;

No more obey the heavens; they are courtiers:
Still feem as does the king's.

Crush

i. e. our countenances no longer depend on each skyey influence, by which in the ordinary courfe of things they are regulated; they are become mere courtiers: ftill are dreft either in fmiles or frowns, according to the bent of the king's look. MALONE. 3 You speak him far.] i. e. you praise him extensively.

Mr. Malone proposes to read fair. EDITOR.

STEEVENS.

I DO EXTEND him, fir, within himself; I extend him within himfelf: my praife, however extenfive, is within his merit. JOHNSON,

Perhaps

Crush him together, rather than unfold
His measure duly.

2 Gent. What's his name, and birth?

1 Gent. I cannot delve him to the root: His father
Was call'd Sicilius, who did join his honour,
Against the Romans, with Caffibelan;
But had his titles by Tenantius, whom
He ferv'd with glory and admir'd fuccefs;
So gain'd the fur-addition, Leonatus:

And had, befides this gentleman in question,
Two other fons; who, in the wars o'the time,
Dy'd with their fwords in hand: for which, their
father

(Then old and fond of iffue) took fuch forrow,
That he quit being; and his gentle lady,
Big of this gentleman, our theme, deceas'd
As he was born. The king, he takes the babe
To his protection; calls him Pofthumus;
Breeds him, and makes him of his bed-chamber:
Put to him all the learning that his time
Could make him the receiver of; which he took,
As we do air, fast as 'twas minister'd; and
In his fpring became a harvest: Liv'd in court,
(Which

Perhaps this paffage may be fomewhat illuftrated by the following lines in Troilus and Creffida, act iii :

-no man is the lord of any thing,
"'Till he communicate his parts to others:
"Nor doth he of himself know them for aught,
" "Till he behold them form'd in the applaufe
"Where they are extended," &c. STEEVENS.

To extend means here, as in many other places, to estimate, or appretiate. However highly I efimate him, my eftimation is ftill fhort of his real value. So, in a subsequent fcene of this play: "The approbations of those that weep this lamentable divorce, under her colours, are wonderfully to extend him.” The term is, originally, legal. MALONE.

liv'd in court,

(Which rare it is to do) moft prais'd, moft lov'd:] This n

(Which rare it is to do) moft prais'd, moft lov'd: A fample to the youngeft; to the more mature, "A glafs that feated them; and to the graver,

A child

comium is high and artful. To be at once in any great degree loved and praised, is truly rare. JOHNSON.

A glass that featur'd them ;] Such is the reading in all the modern editions, I know not by whom first substituted, for A glafs that feared them ;

I have difplaced featur'd, though it can plead long prefcription, because I am inclined to think that feared has the better title. Mirroar was a favourite word in that age for an example, or a pattern, by noting which the manners were to be formed, as dress is regulated by looking in a glafs. When Don Bellianis is ftiled. The Mirrour of Knighthood, the idea given is not that of a glass in which every knight may behold his own refemblance, but an example to be viewed by knights as often as a glafs is looked upon by girls; to be viewed, that they may know, not what they are, but what they ought to be. Such a glafs may fear the more mature, as difplaying excellencies which they have arrived at maturity without attaining. To fear, is here, as in other places, to fright.

If feated be the right word, it must, I think, be explained thus a glass that formed them; a model, by the contemplation and inspection of which they formed their manners. JOHNSON.

Dr. Johnfon is certainly wrong in faying that Mirrour of Knighthood does not give the idea of a glass, but of an example. Miroir de Chevalerie, Specchio di cavalleria, Espejo de cavallerias, are all a looking-glafs for chivalry. And fo is the word properly rendered in our English verfions of the Hiftory of Don Quixote, who is called" a looking-glass, in which all the valiant knights of the world may behold themfelves. REMARKS.

Feated is the old reading.

This paffage may be well explained by another in the first part of King Henry IV:

He was indeed the glass

Wherein the noble youths did dress themselves. Again, Ophelia defcribes Hamlet, as

The glass of fashion, and the mould of form.

To dress themfelves therefore may be to form themselves. Dreffer, in French, is to form. To drefs a Spaniel is to break

him in.

Feat is nice, exact. So in the Tempest:

-look, how well my garments fit upon me, Much feater than before.

Το

A child that guided dotards: to his mistress,
For whom he now is banish'd, her own price
Proclaims how fhe esteem'd him and his virtue;
By her election may be truly read,
What kind of man he is.

2 Gent. I honour him

Even out of your report. But, pray you, tell me, Is fhe fole child to the king?

1 Gent. His only child.

He had two fons, (if this be worth your hearing,
Mark it) the eldest of them at three years old,

I' the fwathing clothes the other, from their nursery
Were ftolen; and to this hour, no guess in knowledge
Which way they went.

2 Gent. How long is this ago?

1 Gent. Some twenty years.

2 Gent. That a king's children fhould be fo convey'd!

So flackly guarded! And the search so flow,
That could not trace thèm !

1 Gent. Howfoe'er 'tis ftrange,

Or that the negligence may well be laugh'd at,
Yet is it true, fir.

2 Gent. I do well believe you.

1 Gent. We muft forbear: Here comes the gen

tleman,

The queen, and princess.

SCÉNÈ

[Exeunt.

II.

Enter the Queen, Pofthumus, Imogen, and attendants.

Queen. No, be affur'd, you fhall not find me, daughter,

To feat therefore may be a verb meaning to render nice, exa&: by the drefs of Pofthumus, even the more mature courtiers condefcended to regulate their external appearance. STEVENS.

After

After the flander of moft ftep-mothers,
Evil-ey'd unto you: you are my prisoner, but
Your gaoler fhall deliver you the keys

That lock up your reftraint. For you, Pofthumus,
So foon as I can win the offended king,
I will be known your advocate: marry, yet
The fire of rage is in him; and 'twere good,
You lean'd unto his fentence, with what patience
Your wifdom may inform you.

Poft. Please your highness,

I will from hence to-day.

Queen. You know the peril

I'll fetch a turn about the garden, pitying
The pangs of barr'd affections; though the king
Hath charg'd you should not speak together. [Exit.
Imo. O diffembling courtesy! How fine this tyrant
Can tickle where fhe wounds!-My dearest husband,
I fomething fear my father's wrath; but nothing,
Always referv'd my holy duty) what

His rage can do on me: You must be gone;
And I fhall here abide the hourly fhot
Of angry eyes; not comforted to live,
But that there is this jewel in the world,
That I may fee again.

Poft. My queen! my mistress!

O, lady, weep no more; left I give caufe
To be fufpected of more tenderness
Than doth become a man! I will remain
The loyal'ft husband that did e'er plight troth.
My refidence in Rome, at one Philario's;
Who to my father was a friend, to me
Known but by letter: thither write, my queen,
And with mine eyes I'll drink the words
Though ink be made of gall.

you fend,

Re

(Always referv'd my holy duty)] I fay I do not fear my father, fo far as I may fay it without breach of duty. JOHNSON. 2 Though ink be made of gall.] Shakspeare, even in this poor

conceit,